We were up very early today for a long day's drive from Krakow to Budapest.
But, before hitting the road we stopped for a fascinating visit at one of Krakow's most famous sites: the salt mine. It is very hard to describe but we spent over 2 hours touring the first three levels of the mine, moving from chamber to chamber filled with amazing sculptures created by the miners ... And even an enormous Catholic cathedral ... Located several hundred feet underground. This underground church was the work of 3 miners, working consecutively over the course of 67 years. The huge chamber is replete with iconic Catholic religious sculptures and 'paintings' all sculpted from the mine's salt. Today it is a working church, holding a mass each Sunday and is available to be rented for weddings. Truly, it is a remarkable place. Thanks to Ron Friedman who made sure that this site made the itinerary.
We left Poland and entered Slovakia ... We traveled from north to south across the country as we made our way to Hungary.
We stopped for a great lunch in Donovaly a little ski resort area in the middle of our route through Slovakia. As Debbie said, "it's just like Disneyland but real!"
Finally we arrived about 8p in Budapest where we bid a fond and grateful farewell to our wonderful guide Waclaw (pronounce Vatzlav), who guided us so brilliantly through Poland and said hello to Annie who will be our guide for our weekend stay in Hungary,
Tomorrow ... A tour of Jewish Budapest and Shabbat at Sim Shalom, the progressive synagogue of Budapest.
No comments:
Post a Comment